Friday, April 17, 2015

Toshiba established a research center to
develop a system to produce hydrogen energy that controls the emissions of
carbon dioxide. It plans to put a large-scale system that covers from hydrogen production
to power generation into practical application toward 2020 well ahead of its competitors. Named “Hydrogen
Energy Research and Development Center,” it was established inside Toshiba’s
Fuchu plant in the suburbs of Tokyo.

The existing technology inevitably
produces carbon dioxide in the process of taking out hydrogen from oil. The
company plans to develop a system that eliminates the possibility of producing
carbon dioxide in the production process of hydrogen. It plans to produce
hydrogen by dissolving water with the help of photovoltaic generation. The
hydrogen will be stored in special equipment and used for power generation by
large-scale fuel cells. The generated power will be delivered to households. The
company plans to develop a system capable of generating power for 10,000
households by 2020. Toshiba’s planned integrated hydrogen system that covers
from hydrogen production to power generation will be the first system of this
kind in the world. Toshiba plans to increase hydrogen-related sales from 20
billion yen in 2014 to 100 billion yen by 2020.

Japanese high-tech companies are
accelerating the efforts to develop new technologies in the field of hydrogen.
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems will put a hydrogen turbine that reduces greenhouse
gas emissions in 2017, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries will start ocean
shipping of hydrogen toward 2017. The world hydrogen-related market is
estimated to grow 160 trillion yen in 2050. A pdf file for further information (in Japanese)